The news comes as something of a surprise given the tendency of this franchise -- and other major series' in Hollywood-- to stay with the same director for follow-up films. Spinoff "Star Wars" movies are also being planned with directors Gareth Edwards and Josh Trank.

Johnson, whose science fiction film "Looper" became a sleeper hit in 2012, was on some people's short lists to help relaunch "Star Wars" before Abrams was named.

In a 2013 interview with Digital Spy, Johnson said he was interested in "Star Wars," but didn't think he'd be a likely candidate for the job.

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(By Andrea Wang)

“I don’t think I’m on those sorts of lists,” he said. "On the one hand, it's 'Star Wars,' it would be very hard to say no to. On the other hand, for me, I'm just really enjoying writing my own stuff."